1999 Royal Rumble review

Royal Rumble
Arrowhead Pond, Anaheim, California
January 24,1999

The opening match began slowly, with Boss Man taunting Road Dogg and being met with a crotch chop. The two circled each other, occasionally going in for a grapple but without achieving a move. Eventually Road Dogg became trapped in the corner and Boss Man punched him. Road Dogg found some short success when Boss Man tried to run and jump onto him, but was left with his crotch caught on the ropes. Boss Man tried to reply with his night stick but referee Mike Chioda stopped him and while he was being reprimanded, Road Dogg dragged him to his feet and pulled him into the ring post, legs open. After recovering, Boss Man threw Road Dogg outside of the ring. Inside the ring Boss Man took to hurling his opponent into the turnbuckles and then crushing him with a bear hug. Despite some punching back from Road Dogg, Boss Man dominated most of the match from this point and despite a Shake, Rattle & Roll from Road Dogg, Boss Man used his opponent's momentum to catch him in the Boss Man Slam, pinning him afterwards.

With Billy Gunn in the ring, Ken Shamrock ran into a series of kicks but managed to get to his feet and punch Gunn into the corner. He quickly worked on slowing down Gunn's style, keeping him mostly grounded with a series of kicks and elbow drops, only picking Gunn up to kick him back down. Both men went down after Shamrock Irish-whipped him and tried to flapjack Gunn, only to have his face driven into the mat with a FameAsser. Although Gunn put Shamrock in the corner for a ten punch, he then went to run into him and was thrown over the top rope out of the ring. Shamrock took advantage of the time outside of the ring to drag Gunn around, throwing him face first into the ring post, steel steps and the unpadded floor before putting him back in the ring. When the two were on the apron, Gunn managed to stun Shamrock by elbowing him and jumping into a bulldog onto the Spanish announce table. Taking some time to recuperate, Shamrock was undeterred, fighting as soon as he returned to the ring as he began to work on Gunn's ankle. Gunn fought back but accidentally clotheslined referee Tim White and while he was down, Val Venis ran in and delivered a DDT on Shamrock. By the time White was conscious to make a pin count, Shamrock kicked out. Gunn gained momentum and eventually went for a move from the turnbuckle. When he came down, Shamrock caught his ankle and took him to the ground, using his ankle lock to make Gunn submit.


Sable fought Luna Vachon in a strap match
The European Championship match started with X-Pac running roughshod over Gangrel using a variety of spinning kicks. Gangrel's short advantage came from throwing X-Pac onto the ropes but X-Pac would not be kept down, trying a Bronco Buster. X-Pac tried to go to the top rope, fighting Gangrel from it, and then going for a flying crossbody. Some controversy arose when referee Teddy Long seemed to make the three count as Gangrel rolled the diving X-Pac into a roll-up pin, the champion kicking out too late. The match continued, though, despite chants from fans in attendance about the pin fall, but only for a short while as X-Pac jumped and drove a running Gangrel's head into the floor for the X-Factor and pinning him.

Despite Shane McMahon announcing Sable as unfit for contest, she came to the ring and demanded to fight, with McMahon joining the commentary team and giving a very biased account. After whipping Vachon with the strap, Sable was knocked to the ground allowing Vachon to tap two turnbuckles but Sable stopped her, using the strap again to whip her. After being kicked in the corner by Sable, Vachon side slammed Sable and then wrapped the strap around Sable's neck, hoisting Sable on her back. She then toured the turnbuckles, tapping three of them unaware that Sable was doing the same from her back. Just before she could tap the fourth, Vachon was taken off her feet by Sable. Fearing a turn in the match, Shane McMahon jumped on the apron to distract the referee, but as Vachon went to tap the fourth turbuckle, Tori attacked her and ran back into the crowd, letting Sable freely tap the fourth turnbuckle in sight of the referee to retain the Woman's Championship.

The "I Quit" Match began with Mankind clotheslining and punching Rock into the turnbuckle before putting him on the ground and punching him, trying to make him quit early on with no success. When The Rock insulted Mankind over the microphone, Mankind struck him with the microphone and then Cactus clotheslined him out of the ring. After punching Rock against the barricade, he was thrown over the steel steps but managed to take control once again when The Rock joined the commentary team to further mock Mankind and was clotheslined over the table. After hitting him again with the microphone when he would not quit, Rock was thrown inside the ring again and was driven to the ground with a mandible claw to the point where he could not talk to quit. Mankind then took Rock out of the ring and through the crowd but when he tried to clothesline Rock, Rock slammed him back into the ringside barricade. Rock then took the bell to Mankind's head, ringing it next to his ear (and humorously singing "bells will be ringing" into the microphone) before trying to Rock Bottom him through the Spanish announce table, but the table gave way before the move could be performed.

Mankind ran for recovery up the walkway but was chased by The Rock who lost control when his opponent began head-butting him. Rock thumbed Mankind's eye and took him through the technical area, smashing his head into the food there and then performing a DDT on him on the concrete, at which point Mankind refused to quit. Rock then brought a ladder into the match but was knocked down with the ladder on top of him, he escaped just as Mankind delivered a running elbow drop onto the ladder, though he would still not quit. Rock then set the ladder up and climbed to the first tier of crowd, fighting in front of them with Mankind just about to throw him off. Rock low blowed him though, and then climbed over the barrier up the stairs to make a running punch which launched Mankind onto the electrical hub of the arena, causing them to spark and the lights to go out briefly. Shane McMahon came to stop the match but Rock demanded his opponent quit, though he would not ask him the question as he kicked a crawling Mankind back towards the ring. With Mankind lying unconscious in the ring, Rock handcuffed his hands behind his back and hit his head into the turnbuckle. Mankind kicked the Rock low, then dropped a knee into his crotch and asked him if he quit. The Rock managed to stand up and clotheslined Mankind to the mat, putting a chair on his face and performing the Corporate Elbow. When he was asked if he would quit, Mankind told Rock to go to hell, Rock told him he'd go to hell first. Mankind stood up only to be met with three hard steel chair shots but still refused to quit, saying he'd have to be killed first. Rock then chased Mankind out of the ring and up the walkway, hitting him repeatedly with a chair until he fell unconscious on the concrete. Finally, Mankind was heard shouting "I quit!" three times in a row; the audio was actually a recording from a promo Mankind made on Raw in the match build up, so Mankind never actually quit, but the Rock was declared the winner nonetheles


The Royal Rumble match began with Steve Austin and Vince McMahon circling each other. McMahon mistimed a clothesline and Austin punched him into the corner, stomping a mudhole. Austin then went to throw McMahon over the top rope but stopped, wanting to take his time as Golga came to the ring. With Austin distracted by Golga, McMahon fled under the bottom rope (and thus wasn't eliminated) but Austin soon followed when Golga was eliminated. Austin followed McMahon through the crowd and eventually fought their way to the halls of the arena and was led into the public toilets where The Corporation were waiting to beat Austin down and leave him unconscious on the floor. In the ring Droz had come out and waited the allotted time until Edge made his appearance, the two fighting only to quickly eliminate Gillberg as soon as he entered the ring. When Dan Severn entered the ring he immediately gunned for Steve Blackman, the two fighting in the corner until Tiger Ali Singh came in and attacked Blackman. Meanwhile, clips were shown of Austin being lifted onto a gurney and eventually being taken to hospital. When the eleventh man was scheduled to enter, nobody showed and backstage Mabel was shown throwing Headbanger Mosh into a wall before entering the Rumble himself in Mosh's place. Shortly after entering the match, with only Road Dogg and Mabel left in the ring after Mabel's dominance, the lights went out. When they came back up, under a blue hue, The Acolytes and Mideon had eliminated Mabel and took him to meet The Undertaker who put him in a (kayfabe) trance. None of them were competitors. Road Dogg was left on his own and quickly eliminated Gangrel but had more difficulty with Kurrgan. Al Snow tried to help Road Dogg but when he over zealously climbed the ropes to push Kurrgan out, Road Dogg jumped on the opportunity to push him over. The ring gradually began to fill up again with Goldust and Godfather until Kane entered, instantly putting all four wrestlers over the top rope and then eliminating himself when the asylum workers came to try and commit him.

Mr. McMahon briefly returned into the ring but then exited to give the ring to Ken Shamrock, opting to join the commentary team instead. The next entrant was Billy Gunn, with only one shoe due to his ankle being injured from their earlier match up. As Test entered the ring, the Ministry were shown in the parking lot putting Mabel into a hearse and then an ambulance pulled up with Steve Austin driving. He quickly made his way to the ring, overshadowing the entrance of the Big Boss Man. McMahon ran around the ring away from Austin, the running through it to allow Shamrock to secure him before fleeing again to the commentary team. Austin eliminated Shamrock with little trouble but put more effort into Boss Man, choking him with a turnbuckle tie. Again the ring began to fill up, two members of DX in Triple H and X-Pac, Test and Boss Man representing The Corporation along with other singles wrestlers. Austin took a break from being in the ring to go to the commentary team to throw a jug of water in McMahon's face before returning to the fight. At this point the first woman to enter a Royal Rumble, Chyna came to the ring. She instantly targeted Mark Henry, delivering forearms before throwing him over the top rope, but before she had time to celebrate Austin immediately clotheslined her over the top rope, for which Triple H attacked him. Triple H was soon eliminated by Austin as the numbers started to dwindle and after giving a Stone Cold Stunner to Boss Man, Austin eliminated him leaving only him and McMahon. Austin went to the announce table and attacked McMahon, throwing him into the crowd and then back to ringside, hitting him with a chair. Austin then threw McMahon into the ring, standing over him as McMahon clambered to his feet and lowblowed Austin. The two both staggered to their feet when Austin stunnered McMahon. The Rock then came to ringside taunting Austin with the WWF Championship, climbing up to the apron. As Austin ran to punch Rock, McMahon climbed to his feet and came up behind Austin, throwing him over the top rope and winning the 1999 Royal Rumble match